Live from Music Row, Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Nashville mayoral candidate Jim Gingrich in studio to confirm his stances on the discriminatory legislation of gender dysphoria and minor children genital mutilation passed by the Tennessee General Assembly as extremist and discriminative.
Leahy: We are delighted to welcome to our microphones, Jim Gingrich, who’s running for mayor. Welcome, Jim.
Gingrich: Hey, it’s great to be here.
Leahy: Thanks for coming in. You’re a brave guy. I’ve been giving you a very hard time on the air for being a carpet bagger. Is that an unfair characterization of you?
Gingrich: Yes it is.
Leahy: Really? So a carpet bagger is a Yankee who comes down to the South and tries to tell us what to do. When did you come down here?
Gingrich: You are correct that I was not born here. I was born in Kansas City. That’s a topic that you really need to take up with my parents. I came down here five years ago when I fell in love with the city and chose to move a company down here. So I wasn’t born here. I chose to move here and I loved it enough that I moved a company here and decided to make Nashville my home.
Leahy: When did you become a resident of Tennessee, when did you first vote in Tennessee?
Gingrich: 2018.
Leahy: 2018. You were a resident here? Have you paid New York State income taxes in 18, 19, or 20?
Gingrich: You continue to pay New York State Income tax on some income long after you’ve left New York, yes.
Leahy: Would New York State consider you a resident of New York State? Did you pay New York State income tax in 2021?
Gingrich: I believe I still owed New York State. I still have deferred income from when I was a resident of New York.
Leahy: So you’ve been registered to vote here since 2018. You’ve been a resident for five years. So you meet the technical standard, right? What’s the technical standard?
Gingrich: Three years.
Leahy: I saw that. My question to you though isn’t there a little bit of hubris to come in here, live here for five years, and think you’re going to be the guy to save the city?
Gingrich: Do you think the city needs saving?
Leahy: My question isn’t it hubris to be here for five years and think you’re the guy to save it?
Gingrich: I think I have a lot to offer the city as mayor.
Leahy: So you were here for a year and I read on your campaign info that you opposed extremist legislation here. And you’re very proud of that in 2019. I saw that and it kind of irritated me. Why did you think you should do that after being here for a year?
Gingrich: I don’t believe in discriminatory legislation.
Leahy: So I looked at some of that legislation that you opposed and defined indecent exposure as something that you couldn’t use gender dysphoria as a defense. That was extremist?
Gingrich: I don’t think you should discriminate.
Leahy: That was extremist though, in your view.
Gingrich: I don’t think we should discriminate. If you look at The Nashville Business Journal, The Nashville Business Journal said we should not discriminate. In fact, The Nashville Business Journal wrote an editorial supporting the stance I took.
Leahy: Okay, so you are saying that was an extremist piece of legislation.
Gingrich: As I said…
Leahy: What’s your feeling on the transgender bill that was passed here? The transgender stopping the mutilation of children? Was that extremist too?
Gingrich: I don’t even know how that’s relevant to being mayor.
Leahy: What was your position on it? How is it relevant to tell the state legislature what to do after you’ve been here for a year?
Gingrich: I didn’t think that was good for our business.
Leahy: So what was your position on the transgender mutilation bill?
Gingrich: You’re going to have to brief me on that bill.
Leahy: Everybody in the state knows that bill.
Gingrich: Look, I don’t believe in discriminating against, People regardless of their race or gender, or sexual orientation.
Leahy: So do you consider the bill that’s law here that prohibits the mutilation of children under the age of 18? Do you consider that extremist?
Gingrich: Do I believe that the mutilation of children…
Leahy: Genital mutilation, the bill stopping the genital mutilation of kids under the age of 18.
Gingrich: I think that those are decisions that should be made between a parent and medical professionals.
Leahy: So it sounds like you would agree with the ACLU on that issue then. They’re suing the state.
Gingrich: Hmm, hmm.
Leahy: You do. You would. Okay. Good.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Jim Gingrich” by Jim Gingrich. Background Photo “Davidson County Courthouse” by Michael Rivera. CC BY-SA 4.0.
